Fragmentation in filamentary molecular clouds

Abstract

Recent surveys of dust continuum emission at sub-mm wavelengths have shown that filamentary molecular clouds are ubiquitous along the Galactic plane. These structures are inhomogeneous, with overdensities that are sometimes associated with infrared emission and active of star formation. To investigate the connection between filaments and star formation, requires an understanding of the processes that lead to the fragmentation of filaments and a determination of the physical properties of the overdensities (clumps). In this paper, we present a multiwavelength study of five filamentary molecular clouds, containing several clumps in different evolutionary stages of star formation. We analyse the fragmentation of the filaments and derive the physical properties of their clumps. We find that the clumps in all filaments have a characteristic spacing consistent with the prediction of the 'sausage' instability theory, regardless of the complex morphology of the filaments or their evolutionary stage. We also find that most clumps have sufficient mass and density to form high-mass stars, supporting the idea that high-mass stars and clusters form within filaments.